The body that governs world cycling, Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), has reversed course and decided to ban trans athletes from women’s competitions. The announcement was made today by UCI in a press release.

From now on, female transgender athletes who have transitioned after (male) puberty will be prohibited from participating in women’s events on the UCI International Calendar – in all categories – in the various disciplines.

For international Masters events – races on the UCI Cycling for All International Calendar and UCI events (UCI Gran Fondo World Series, UCI Gran Fondo World Championships, UCI Gravel World Series, UCI Gravel World Championships and UCI Masters World Championships) –, the Men’s category will be renamed Men/Open, and any athlete who does not meet the conditions for participation in women’s events will be admitted without restriction.

The UCI Management Committee has taken note of the state of scientific knowledge, which does not confirm that at least two years of gender-affirming hormone therapy with a target plasma testosterone concentration of 2.5 nmol/L is sufficient to completely eliminate the benefits of testosterone during puberty in men. In addition, there is considerable inter-individual variability in response to gender-confirming hormone therapy, which makes it even more difficult to draw precise conclusions about the effects of such treatment. Given the current state of scientific knowledge, it is also impossible to rule out the possibility that biomechanical factors such as the shape and arrangement of the bones in their limbs may constitute a lasting advantage for female transgender athletes.

The new rules go into effect on Monday, July 17. The last straw that led to this decision came in May when a trans athlete named Austin Killips won the Tour of the Gila women’s cycling race. I wrote about it at the time. Killips not only won the overall race but also won the competition for the best climber, showing it was a dominant performance. Martina Navratilova criticized the win.

Transgender cyclist Austin Killips wins women's race, causes outrage- this will happen more and more- women’s sports is NOT THE PLACE for trans identified male athletes https://t.co/1KDuhYqyoh

— Martina Navratilova (@Martina) May 3, 2023

The following month, Killips won another women’s race in North Carolina, beating the 2nd place finisher by five minutes.

For the women…Killips claimed the victory in a time of 8 hours, 28 minutes and 7 seconds. Crossing the line four minutes later was Paige Onweller (Trek Driftless) in second place. Second at Belgian Waffle Ride California, Flavia Oliveira Parks (Excel Sports p/b Specialized) took third place, a further three minutes back.

After that win, the organizers of the ride announced a new policy which will be in place for next year’s race:

Organizers said there will be three categories for the next events – female, male and open.

“Female: In the interest of protecting the parity of sports between women and men, racers who were born female may compete in the classification.

“Male: Racers who were born and/or identify as male may compete in this classification.

Killips had also been involved in the decision by a top female cyclist named Hannah Arensman to quit the sport just earlier this year.

“I have decided to end my cycling career,” Arensman said last Wednesday.

She said in her last race, in the elite women’s division of the UCI Cyclocross National Championships in late December, she “came in 4th place, flanked on either side by male riders awarded 3rd and 5th places.”

“My sister and family sobbed as they watched a man finish in front of me, having witnessed several physical interactions with him throughout the race,” she wrote, in a statement also shared by the Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS).

“Additionally, it is difficult for me to think about the very real possibility I was overlooked for an international selection on the US team at Cyclocross Worlds in February 2023 because of a male competitor.”

She said that it “has become increasingly discouraging to train as hard as I do only to have to lose to a man with the unfair advantage of an androgenized body that intrinsically gives him an obvious advantage over me, no matter how hard I train.”

After Killips won the Tour of Gila in May there was a backlash and UCI, which had defended its trans inclusion policy just months earlier, announced that it would reconsider the policy. Today’s decision is the result of that reconsideration. Riley Gaines is one of the people celebrating the news.

UCI, governing body of cycling, has joined the likes of FINA (swimming) & World Athletics (track & field) and prioritized fairness in sport rather than feelings

Cycling has been heavily infiltrated with males competing in the women's division so this is huge #SaveWomensSports pic.twitter.com/4vQ1JX0n6I

— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) July 14, 2023

Also:

Good news from Cycling Governing Body today. Protect Women’s Sports! I cannot believe we have to keep saying this. https://t.co/0UMv273ND2

— Caitlyn Jenner (@Caitlyn_Jenner) July 14, 2023

Now we just need to make sure that these decisions for professional athletes trickle down to public schools. Women should be allowed to compete with other women in high school as well.

No doubt there is going to be a big backlash to this on the left but they don’t seem to have organized that yet.